Engage to Change Awards 2022
Whilst all young people who have taken part in the project have helped shape the way for supported employment in Wales, at the recent Engage to Change Celebration parties we took to opportunity to recognise young people who had a made a significant contribution to promoting the project and it’s work. At the events we gave out awards in two categories, Engage to Change Ambassadors and Engage to Change Champions. Both awards were in recognition of the amazing contributions individuals have made to the project.
Engage to Change Ambassadors
At the events we took time to recognise the work of the Engage to Change Ambassadors, who were previously employed to promote the work of the project. On behalf of the project, they attended events, hosted stands, facilitated workshops and delivered presentations about supported employment and Engage to Change. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic prevented the ambassadors from fully carrying out their roles, but they continued to be fantastic spokespeople for the project. We were delighted to award Ambassadors Jordan Quainte and Michael Allcock in South Wales and Elsa Jones and Johnathan Tranter in North Wales.
We also recognised the work of Lead Ambassador Gerraint Jones Griffiths who has carried on working for the project to promote the need for supported employment for people with a learning difficulty, learning disability and/or autism. Gerraint continues to present at and Chair events and facilitate workshops. He attends meetings with key stakeholders where he shares his own experiences, and views. This has included meeting with the Minister for the Economy Vaughan Gethin and with Hefin David MS for Caerphilly.
Engage to Change Champions
The Engage to Change Champion Award was created to recognise young people who had worked during the pandemic and continue to work to promote the project through creating videos about their journey and taking part in events. We were thrilled to award seven young people a Champion Award.
South Wales Engage to Change Champions
Ffion Parsons
Ffion was given the Award for representing E2C at a National Apprenticeship Week event where she shared her video story of being a supported apprentice at Cerebra. Ffion has also taken part in online stakeholders’ events where she has answered questions from attendees. Congratulations to Ffion who has become engaged and is planning to get married in the near future.
Molly Matthews
Molly, a former supported intern, was presented with a Champion Award for the work she contributed to the E2C Stakeholders event where she shared her experiences of the project via video. Molly had also previously presented about neurodiversity on behalf of project partner NCMH at Cardiff University. In addition, participated in the project Evaluation Forums facilitated by All Wales People First and NCMH.
Tomos Churchill
Tomos Churchill, a former supported intern, was awarded for his contribution to promoting the project through sharing the story of his journey to paid employment. Gaining a job has helped Tomos to save and prepare for marrying his fiancée. Congratulations Tomos! During Covid-19 restrictions Tomos welcomed E2C staff to his job at Ynysangharad War Memorial Park and created a video of his experience that was shown at online events .
Tyler Savory and Andrew Worsley
Tyler and Andrew are both former supported interns who went on to gain employment with NCMH at Cardiff University. Tyler and Andrew have since taken part in videos, delivered presentations about their experience on the project, spoken at project graduations and attended meetings related to the project, including representing NCMH at a site visit by Hefin David MS.
Jacob Meighan
Jacob is a former supported intern who went on to gain employment with the NCMH Engage to Change Team. Jacob has taken part in videos and delivering workshops for Engage to Change. He was also a member of an interview panel when recruiting to a project vacancy. In addition, Jacob has contributed to an Easy Read version of a report produced by NCMH. Jacob was unable to attend the Engage to Change party so was awarded by Learning Disability Wales CEO Zoe Richards at the Learning Disability Wales Annual Conference 2022 in Newport.
North Wales Champions
Tim Carroll
Tim is a former supported intern who went on to gain employment with Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board. During his internships and employment Tim featured in video and articles promoting supported employment. Tim has also featured on ITV Wales Evening News talking about his experience on the project.
Sarah-Jayne Mawdsley
Sarah-Jayne is a former supported intern who went on to gain employment with Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board as a Pharmacy Assistant having recently also completed an apprenticeship. Sarah-Jayne has featured in videos and articles promoting the project and was featured on the National Lottery’s Big Blog.
Jack Nelson
Jack initially secured employment with support from the project as a housekeeper at a local hotel. He has since used his entrepreneurial skills to set up his own Dog Walking business which he successfully manages. Jack featured in a video for an Engage to Change Roadshow and responded to questions asked during the Q and A session.
Thomas Oakes
Tom was supported in to work by the project initially at a hospital but more recently at Wetherspoons. This enabled Tom to live independently, sharing a flat and paying the bills with his sister. Since then, Tom has become a passionate advocate for supported employment and has taken part in online and in person events on behalf of Engage to Change, including presenting a workshop at the Learning Disability Wales Annual Conference in south Wales. Tom was also a member of the project Evaluation Forum that was facilitated by All Wales People First and NCMH.